Thought And Observation

Belief

Over the last bunch of days, it’s dawned on me how few people truly believe themselves. It could just be the weird combination of “marriage season”, mixed with “bbq season”, and my recent marathon of True Detective season one. Admittedly, eight episodes is not much of a marathon, and as this paragraph digresses, it’s time to transition.

People tend to project their weaknesses if their faith is weak. This projection is usually an attempt to conceal their weakness. Ironically, it ends up broadcasting their weaknesses. What causes a weakness in faith? Fear, hunger, pettiness? Plenty of variables create weakness in faith.

Many months ago, my friend mocked my thinking on politics. At the time he said, “At least they believe in something.” Knowing my friend, I knew he was just being a contrarian. To me, both sides of the political spectrum are a mirror image. Each has it’s radicals, and level-headed, and each has their own strong biases. (This idea of mine is exactly what he objected to.)

When it comes to politics, my stance is pretty neutral. Which is to say, wherever I go, it seems that people automatically assume me to be opposite of them. As it so happens, this assumption is always based on little to no evidence, zero previous conversations concerning politics, and my state of origin. Hell, some of my cousins believe me to be a Republican simply because my parents are. Truthfully, I do have a political stance. But “Economist”, isn’t exactly a political option to register.

Anyway my point is that it’s great to have absolute faith. Startlingly few people do. Many more people state that they do, and lie to themselves. Even my friend, who took a cynical jab at me, is right to some extent. Believe in your convictions as long as they don’t hurt anyone. Only the faithless will criticize you.